Do you have Long Term Care insurance?

Wednesday, March 4th, 2015

Here’s an uncomfortable question: who’s going to pay for mom or dad’s nursing home bill — or yours, for that matter?

What is Long-Term Care?

Individuals need long-term care when a chronic condition, trauma, or illness limits their ability to carry out basic self-care tasks, called activities of daily living (ADLs), (such as bathing, dressing or eating), or instrumental activities of daily living(IADLs) (such as household chores, meal preparation, or managing money). Long-term care often involves the most intimate aspects of people’s lives—what and when they eat, personal hygiene, getting dressed, using the bathroom. Other less severe long-term care needs may involve household tasks such as preparing meals or using the telephone.

Who Needs Long-Term Care?

Annually 8,357,100 people receive support from the 5 main long-term care service; home health agencies (4,742,500), nursing homes (1,383,700), hospices (1,244,500), residential care communities (713,300) and adult day service centers (273,200).1[Updated February 2015]

An estimated 12 million Americans needed long-term care in 2007.2 [Updated February 2015]

Most but not all persons in need of long-term care are elderly. Approximately 63% are persons aged 65 and older (6.3 million); the remaining 37% are 64 years of age and younger (3.7 million).3

The lifetime probability of becoming disabled in at least two activities of daily living or of being cognitively impaired is 68% for people age 65 and older.4

By 2050, the number of individuals using paid long-term care services in any setting (e.g., at home, residential care such as assisted living, or skilled nursing facilities) will likely double from the 13 million using services in 2000, to 27 million people. This estimate is influenced by growth in the population of older people in need of care.5

Of the older population with long-term care needs in the community, about 30% (1.5 million persons) have substantial long-term care needs (three or more ADL limitations). Of these, about 25% are 85 and older and 70% report they are in fair to poor health.6

In 2012, 14.8% of the 65+ population were reported to be below the poverty level. 7[Updated February 2015]

Among the population aged 65+, 69% will develop disabilities before they die, and 35% will eventually enter a nursing home.8 [Updated February 2015]

Nearly a fifth of older people will incur more than $25,000 in lifetime out-of-pocket long-term costs before they die. .9[Updated February 2015]

The prevalence of cognitive impairment among the older population increased over the past decade, while the prevalence of physical impairment remains unchanged.10

In 2002, the percentage of older persons with moderate or severe memory impairment ranged from about 5% among persons aged 65–69 to about 32% among persons aged 85 or older.11

Individuals 85 years and older, the oldest old, are one of the fastest growing segments of the population. In 2012, there are an estimated 5.9 million people 85+ in the United States.12[Updated February 2015] This figure is expected to increase to 19.4 million by 2050.13 This means that there could be an increase from 1.6 million to 6.2 million people age 85 or over with severe or moderate memory impairment in 2050.14